Bellatrix the Strange
by Jacalyn Hyde
Summary: Bellatrix Black's first year at Hogwarts and her initial introduction to the Dark Arts. Rating for torture among other things. Sequel canceled.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I follow the canon religiously in some aspects and completely ignore it in others... Anyway, Bellatrix is eleven here. (Imagine a combination of Lyra Belaqua and Wednesday Adams.) She's smart, spiteful, and selfish, but not entirely EVIL yet. As for the torture, I think she needed a justification for the early stages of her madness, you'll see... Anyway, It's my first fic ever, please enjoy. Advice welcomed. Thank you for reading.

"_Crucio_!"

This was not the first time Bellatrix Black had been on the receiving end of the Cruciatis Curse, but she still couldn't understand how she was surviving it. Every cell of her body seemed to be screaming for release. How could she tolerate this pain? It should be killing her, surely this was what death felt like. She was simultaneously frozen and on fire with thousands of needles repeatedly puncturing her skin.

She couldn't think, half completed thoughts and pleas appeared in her mind and vanished. She wanted to scream, even tried to, and got as far as opening her mouth to do so before the pain overcame her again. She curled up, hugging herself and allowing her fingernails to pierce her own skin. Nothing helped, nothing ever did. Slowly and painstakingly, she uncurled herself, breathing harshly and feeling tears accumulating in her eyes, she moved to lay flat on her back and stare up at her attacker with the most hateful look she could manage.

Fighting the pain and using all that remained of her energy, Bellatrix desperately forced her lips to form a single word, "Please."

Her father, Cygnus Black II, sent her a disapproving look but wordlessly released her from the torture curse. Bellatrix sighed in relief and shamefully rubbed at her eyes.

"I lasted as long as I could," she attempted to justify her display of weakness. "Longer than last time, I'm pretty sure...and I'm sorry, I really am. I wish-"

He wasn't listening, of course. He sent her another patronizing and pitiless glare. She shivered and started to repeat her apology before he interrupted with an unexpected question. "If I had been torturing you for information, would you have given it to me?"

There was no ideal answer. Bellatrix could say that she would sooner die than betray her family, but the mere fact that she had begged for freedom seemed to contradict this, even if it was true. She also had the option of honesty which was unappealing because confessing that she might have, indeed, been willing to reveal the hypothetical secrets in order to save herself would most likely result in her being put under the Cruciatus Curse again.

Hating herself for it, she settled for a pathetic non-commental answer: "I don't know." But before she could finish voicing this statement a wand was waved inches from her face and her head was forced backward, tilted so she was forced to make eye-contact with him. Thoughts and memories that she, herself hadn't conjured surfaced in her mind. This was legilimency, she realized, he was reading her mind.

"You would have," he stated, clearly disappointed in her. "It seems you can't be trusted."

"No!" Bellatrix protested, her voice barely above a whisper. "I can...you can trust me. I know I'm weak now and I hate it, but I haven't had any training and I don't understand a lot of things... But I can learn... I am completely loyal to this family and everything we believe in. You _can_ trust me."

She wanted to keep talking until she said something that appeased him, but she was shaking and almost talking in circles, so she wisely silenced herself and put a desperate, pleading expression on her face.

He seemed to give her words some thought. "Do you mean that?"

Hoping to avoid another experience with legilimency, Bellatrix answered immediately, "Yes."

"Then I am certain you won't mind proving it..._Curcio_!"

As the excruciating pain attacked her once again, Bellatrix squeezed her eyes shut, as if doing so could shield her somehow, and instinctively curled into the fetal position. She bit her lower lip as a mild distraction, tasted blood, and screamed internally. After a few more minutes under the curse, her screams became audible and the pain seemed to be intensifying, but she made no move to save herself from it because another failure would certainly feel much worse.

After what seemed like an hour, the curse was lifted from her, quickly and without warning just as it had been cast originally. "Good girl," a distant voice emotionlessly praised her. She raised her head weakly and opened her eyes just enough to confirm that she was still alive, and, more importantly, that she had passed the test.

A well-groomed snowy owl flew into her room early the next morning, Bellatrix was awakened by its hooted greeting as it dropped a seemingly-important letter on her lap. She knew what it was instantly: her Hogwarts acceptance letter. She was not at all surprised to receive it but did allow herself a smile of satisfaction.

She still ached from last night's painful "lesson" but leaned forward despite this to gently stroke the owl's feathers and whisper "thank you" to it before it took off again.

Just as the owl flew out of her room, her two younger sisters excitedly stormed into it. Andromeda and Narcissa Black were nine and seven years old respectively. The two of them were endlessly curious and never gave her any privacy, but Bellatrix had learned to either ignore this fact or to embrace it because she loved her sisters more than anyone or anything else in the entire world.

"Trixie?" Andromeda asked happily as she and Narcissa jumped onto the bed beside Bellatrix. "What happened? We saw the owl, and-"

"It's just Hogwarts stuff," Bellatrix explained quickly.

"Oh, you got in! That's great!"

"Well, of course I did," Bellatrix said, completely unfazed.

The three Black sisters were quiet for a minute or so after that comment. Andromeda stared at Bellatrix, as if offended by her lack of enthusiasm and Narcissa looked at both of her older siblings blankly, looking slightly troubled for no apparent reason.

"What about last night, Trixie?" Narcissa asked anxiously. "We heard you screaming," she clarified.

"It was just a bad dream, Cissy," Bellatrix lied quickly but convincingly. "I'm sorry if you were worried."

"I was," the little blonde girl confessed.

In reaction to that heart-breaking statement, Bellatrix seized her youngest sister in an emotional embrace. "You shouldn't have. I can take care of myself, really. _And_ I can take care of you two," she repositioned herself, cringing slightly at the effort movement required from her still aching body, and wrapped her right arm protectively around Narcissa and placed her left over Andromeda's shoulder. "That's what big sisters do, alright?"

Both of her sisters nodded and she let go of them. "Let's get some breakfast," she suggested, hoping to distract them. "Tell one of the house elves to make me some toast or something. I'll meet you downstairs in a minute. We can go play outside after that."

Both of her sisters made noises of agreement and left her alone once again. Sighing, Bellatrix stood up and changed clothes, exchanging her violet nightgown for a black dress with emerald green trim. She stretched and delicately brushed her long, dark hair. She allowed herself a few moments to look in the mirror and entertain the thought that she was beautiful or, at least, would be someday, before she headed downstairs with her Hogwarts letter clutched tightly in her hand.

Bellatrix took a little detour on her path to the kitchen, her father's study was the third door along the left side of the mansion's downstairs hallway. She knocked on the door but walked inside without waiting for permission to enter. She resentfully approached his desk. She didn't speak a word or even look at her father, she just dropped the letter on top of a book about the Dark Arts that he had been studying.

"I'll take you shopping for school supplies later today," he promised dismissively.

Bellatrix nodded. She considered leaving then, but decided that now was as good a time as any for the confrontation she'd been planning. She put a bitter scowl on her face and finally looked at him, hoping to wordlessly inform him of the grudge she held about last night and every other time that he, or any of her other relatives, had used the Unforgivable Cruciatus Curse on her.

He understood automatically and tried to explain it for her. "It's because I love you, Bellatrix. I want you to be strong, I want you to do something great for this family and I know you can."

Bellatrix listened to his explanation but didn't accept it immediately. She was angry and somehow found it comforting to remain that way. If her father really had tortured her out of love and in order to teach her greatness, then she really had no reason to hate him for it.

Feeling confused and still frustrated, she looked away and turned to leave the room. She expected to be reprimanded for it or at least called after, but her father did nothing but return his concentration to his reading material. Simultaneously pleased and disappointed with this result, Bellatrix left the study and strolled further down the hallway. She entered the kitchen a few seconds later, found both of her sisters wearing their stereotypical curious and impatient expressions and couldn't help but smile at them.

Shopping in Diagon Alley later that day was not particularly eventful, but Bellatrix managed to amuse herself by watching the other shoppers and attempting to guess their blood status based on their purchases. She returned home two hours later with a book about Unforgivable Curses that she'd purchased at a shop in Nockturn Alley and a mental note to research forgetfulness potions, in addition to all of her school supplies.

Bellatrix was pleased most of all with her wand. It was more than a foot long and walnut with a core of dragon heartstring. She enjoyed holding it tightly in her hand and waving it dramatically. She imagined and even mentally whispered some of the more powerful spells that she could cast with it, but only performed a few simple ones at first.

The morning of September first finally arrived. Bellatrix had been packed and excited to go for more than a week now. Her parents and sisters went to the train station with her that rainy morning. It was, naturally, filled with Muggles. Bellatrix grimaced, repulsed by their filthy, magic-less existences as she led the way toward the portal that would take them to Platform 9 3/4.

Going through the magical barrier was, surprisingly, much less exhilarating than traveling by Floo powder or portkey. It actually was not so different from using an ordinary door, but Bellatrix, in her excitement, chose to ignore this fact.

Saying goodbye to her family was not remotely difficult or emotional, because she hadn't come from a very affectionate family. Her parents assured her of the love, pride and hope they had for her but didn't physically reach out to hug her or even to shake her hand. Narcissa and Andromeda were a completely different story though, they embraced her tightly enough to prevent her from breathing and made her promise to write as often as she could and visit them on holidays.

Once Bellatrix agreed to those demands, her sisters let her go and she boarded the Hogwarts Express without looking back.


	2. Chapter 2

(Author's Note: Yes, I know Bellatrix's nickname was Bella, not Trixie, it changes later, please bear with me... I think I'm going to make her and Rodolphus best friends at first. Maybe even first- but not ONLY- loves. Also, please read before you judge me. Thanks.)

She found the two Lestrange boys, Rabastan and Rodolphus, in a compartment near the back of the train and joined them without asking if they minded her doing so. The brothers were seated side by side, looking over a book that the older one slammed shut as Bellatrix entered.

"I'm Bellatrix Black," she said, taking a seat across from them and implying that they should have already known who she was. She knew the name and face of every pureblood child attending Hogwarts thanks to her mother's lecture concerning students she should or should not associate with. "I know your names," she admitted, "but not which of you is which."

Both boys had black hair and features as dark as Bellatrix's. They were identical except that one looked more grown up than the other. The younger one, who looked about her age, gave no answer but laughed at her shyly. But the older brother, looking both elegant and arrogant in his Slytherin robes, introduced himself as Rabastan Lestrange.

After a few minutes of useless small-talk, Bellatrix eyed the book on Rabastan's lap. "What were you reading about?"

The brothers looked at each other. Rabastan shrugged and Rodolphus answered, "Legilimency."

Bellatrix nodded her approval, it was a subject she wanted to know more about. She took out her Unforgivable Curses book and offered it to them. "Here, trade you."

They looked surprised at the subject, but accepted her offer. Bellatrix flipped through their book and found herself intrigued by the chapter about Occlumency. The three of them took turns reading interesting passages aloud from both books and, fascinated, they quickly became friends.

When the train arrived at the Hogsmead station, Bellatrix stayed close to Rodolphus, who, conveniently, was also a first-year. Through what Rabastan had told him, he apparently knew almost every thing about Hogwarts already. He ignored whatever the groundskeeper was shouting at the group of new students and motioned for her to follow him down a narrow trail toward the lake.

There they found a dozen or so small boats and climbed into the closest one. "They take us to the castle," Rodolphus explained and Bellatrix nodded non-chalantly, pretending that she had already known this.

The two of them had arrived at the boats well before the rest of their class. Bellatrix was fairly certain that the other students were listening to some sort of lecture at that moment and she did not envy them at all.

Instead, she stared at the brilliant night sky and skimmed her fingers over the water's surface, which, until she had disturbed it, had been still and smooth as glass. It was also impossibly dark, though, and colder than ice. Noticing this, she quickly retracted her hand and placed it, instead, inside the pocket of her school robes and curled it anxiously around her wand.

Rodolphus was watching this and he seemed uncertain what to think of her. His eyes were narrowed in an unspoken question.

"What?" Bellatrix asked with a giggle. But before he could answer they saw the rest of their class approaching.

None of the other students said anything to either of them and, although the rule was four people per boat, no one joined Bellatrix and Rodolphus in theirs. They shared an amused expression at this fact and laughed quietly as the boats began moving forward.

A few minutes of slow, candle-lit travel later they arrived on the opposite shore. The first years followed the groundskeeper into the castle and Bellatrix and Rodolphus unhappily stayed with the group this time.

All of the first years were organized into two straight lines outside the Great Hall. Bellatrix was uncertain which of them had reached out first, but she found herself beside Rodolphus and holding hands with him as they entered the room and prepared for the sorting ceremony.

Bellatrix knew exactly what would happen here and she had no doubt what-so-ever about which house she would be placed into. _That_ was not what she was worried about.

Underneath the enchanted night sky ceiling, she watched a teacher place the sorting hat on a stool at the very front of the room where it was sure to be the center of attention, and half-listened to the hat's tuneless song.

"Rodolphus," she whispered to her new friend as she tugged gently on his sleeve. "Does the hat actually read your mind?"

"Yes, but it's nothing to worry about."

He spent the next few minutes of the ceremony quietly pointing out teachers Bellatrix didn't already know and warning her about the classes his brother had hated that they were sure to dislike also.

Neither of them was paying any attention to the students being sorted until Bellatrix heard her name. "Black, Bellatrix."

She dropped Rodolphus's hand and, frightened all over again at the concept of legilimency, resolved to make her placement as fast and painless as possible. She sat and said, "Slytherin" aloud just as the hat was placed on her head.

_Slytherin? Yes, I can see that..._ the sorting hat's voice rasped inside her mind. _There's ambition and passion, but darkness too... Be careful, but yes, I think you would belong in Slytherin. But are you certain that's what you want?_

"Yes, I'm certain, you stupid hat!" She shouted, much louder than she had intended to. "Now get out of my head!"

"Alright, then. Slytherin it is," the hat declared.

Bellatrix scowled, knowing perfectly well that she had just made a fool of herself, and went to sit across from Rabastan Lestrange at the Slytherin table.

"What was that all about?" He asked, gesturing at the sorting hat.

Bellatrix shrugged. "I have... secrets."

"And you didn't want the sorting hat to see them?"

"Who knows what the hat does with all the information it gets from us?"

"That makes sense." Rabastan agreed. "You didn't have to scream, though."

"Well, what would you have done?" she challenged.

He met her eyes for a moment before she quickly shied away from that contact. "That would depend on what kind of secrets they are," he answered, finally.

Bellatrix shrugged again and turned her attention back to the sorting in time to see Rodolphus placed into Slytherin house almost instantly. But, she was also aware that she was one of the very few people still watching the ceremony, the majority of the other students and even a couple of the teachers were still staring at her with various expressions, most of which displayed either concern or fear.

"Bellatrix?" Rodolphus took a seat next to her and placed his hand over hers almost-protectively. "Are you alright?"

She nodded. "I'm fine. I just... it's nothing." This felt just like reassuring her sisters. It was a lie she had to tell because the truth was just as much a mystery to her as it was to everyone else.

Rodolphus seemed satisfied with that comment, he did not respond to her words but continued to hold on to her hand silently until the first course of the start-of-term feast appeared magically. Bellatrix sipped pumpkin juice and nibbled on a few food items indifferently while staring at nothing in particular and half-listening to the Lestrange brothers arguing about whether or not the food was any better than what they were accustomed to eating at home.

When they asked her opinion on this matter, Bellatrix only rolled her eyes. She didn't want to admit that she and her sisters almost always ate alone and that just eating whatever they told the house elves to make them took all of the fun out of being allowed to eat ice cream for dinner.

At that senseless thought, she felt a slight pain of guilt for leaving Andromeda and Narcissa alone. Because their parents were always busy working, obsessing, studying, and hosting or attending parties, the girls had formed a little family with just the three of them and now there were only two. What would happen to poor Cissy when Andromeda too left for Hogwarts?

But fortunately, Bellatrix was saved from having to deal with these troubling thoughts because the food was cleared away as instantly as it had appeared and Headmaster Dumbledore, who she immediately decided she disliked, began making announcements.

She remained patient and quiet until he began informing them of the time and place of Quiddich tryouts and then decided she did not have to pay attention anymore. "Are either of you going to tryout?" She asked both Lestrange boys, quietly communicating the disinterest they obviously shared.

Rabastan, as it turned out, was already on the Slytherin team as a Beater. Bellatrix was impressed. Because he was as skinny as his brother and apparently as anti-social as she was, she hadn't pictured him as an athlete. Rodolphus, however, shook his head in answer to her question and snorted when she jokingly asked, "Really?"

The announcements ended and they were dismissed a few boring minutes later. "First years!" Called one of the Slytherin prefects, a tall, blond boy who looked extremely pleased with himself. Most of the new Slytherins stood up to follow him but Bellatrix remained where she was seated, hoping to teach him a lesson. Rodolphus grabbed her arm with a worried expression and shook her gently. "You too, Crazy Girl," the prefect ordered her, arrogantly.

"Crazy girl?" Bellatrix repeated mockingly under her breath as she let Rodolphus help her up and unenthusiastically joined the rest of her class. She actually wanted to hurt the prefect for that comment and purposefully trying to embarrass her more than she already had been, but decided that he definitely was not worth the trouble she would get into for it.

The first year Slytherins were led out of the hall and past several rooms on their way to their dormitories in the dungeon. Bellatrix ignored the rude looks several of the other students were sending her and intentionally lagged behind the group, dragging Rodolphus with her.

"...Watch the staircases too," the prefect lectured. "They can change."

"Of course they can." Bellatrix remarked, rolling her eyes. The staircases in her own home could change too. They thought it was funny to randomly send her to the library when she was trying to get to her bedroom, but, thankfully did not do this very often. "Did any of you think you were going to a normal school with normal staircases that did nothing?" She asked, not speaking to any one in particular because only Rodolphus could hear her, and he seemed to share her feelings about the issue.

"Well, in case you didn't know," she continued mockingly. "We're all here to learn something called _magic_. So if you think it's going to be too difficult for you..."

She stopped abruptly because the blond prefect had turned to glare at her as if he had heard what she was saying. He gestured impatiently at her and Rodolphus and ordered them to "keep up, please" before turning once again to continue stating the obvious.

"Come on," Bellatrix whispered to Rodolphus. "We don't have to listen to this idiot. Let's just find our own way."

He agreed instantly and responded, "That's exactly what I was thinking. Where do you want to go?"

Bellatrix shrugged playfully, "Let's just go exploring, shall we? We can always say we got lost...maybe, we can even get him in trouble for it," she said, indicating the arrogant prefect with an evil smile.


	3. Chapter 3

lThey made sure no one was watching them, then quickly turned down another hallway while the rest of their group kept going straight. They soon found themselves in front of what was obviously the school library.

"Should we go inside?" Rodolphus asked.

Bellatrix thought for a moment, long enough to decide that she cared more about satisfying her curiosity than about making teachers believe she was a good girl. "Sure, why not?" She answered mischievously.

They drew their wands and tried the door, which, surprisingly, swung open without any magical assistance from either of them. "Hmmm," Bellatrix gave the door a disapproving look but otherwise ignored the matter of their easy access.

She and Rodlophus split up once they entered after making each other promise to "tell me if you find anything interesting." They intended to spend about half an hour there before leaving to look for some of the classrooms next, but, in the meantime, wanted to see what the library had to offer.

Bellatrix strolled down a few aisles, quickly learning that books were organized alphabetically by subject and deciding to look for one on Occlumency. She did not find anything on this subject under "Wandless Wizardry" or "Mental Magics" though, and was about to give up her search when a left turn at the end of the aisle brought her right in front of the Restricted Section.

She stared at the lock on the door to this room, wondering if a simple _Alohamora_ charm would have any effect on it, but, she decided to consult Rodolphus before trying anything. She raised her wand and sent red sparks from it several feet above the bookshelves. Rodolphus was at her side less than a minute later. "You scared me," he admitted. "Did you find anything?"

"Maybe. Did you?"

"Not really, just some basic potions..." He trailed off. Finally realizing where they were standing, he looked at her expectantly.

"Did Rabastan ever go in there?" If he had, he might have taught his brother the secret to entering undetected.

"Not without permission. He said the books scream if you try to read them without a teacher saying you can."

"Good to know," Bellatrix muttered, only slightly disappointed. She gave the door another thoughtful look before resolving that the unlocking spell was at least worth a try. "_Alohamora_," she tapped the lock with her wand. It clicked open without difficulty.

Bellatrix clapped her hands together and said "Ha!" pridefully. Either she was the most talented student the school had ever seen (and she hadn't had even a single day of lessons yet) or Hogwarts needed to rethink their security measures.

Still smiling at that thought, she led Rodolphus inside. It was darker in this room. The two of them flicked their wands and whispered "_Lumos_" in unison. Their wand tips lit up and illuminated the room, making hundreds of restricted titles readable.

"What are we looking for?" Rodolphus asked, gazing warily over all the books.

"Occlumen-" Bellatrix started to answer. But she stopped abruptly as her eyes found a section titled simply "The Dark Arts." A few of these books seemed to be calling to her. She stepped closer without questioning the feeling and reached out to grab the closest one, a large, leather bound volume with a short chain binding it to the bookcase.

Bellatrix held it close for a minute, longingly. Then, "_Silencio_," she gently struck its cover with her wand. Keeping her fingers crossed and hoping that her silencing charm would have an effect on the book's screaming alarm system, she slid her finger between two of the pages, took a deep breath, and opened it.

Not a sound came from the book and Bellatrix exhaled in relief. She stared at the table of contents page and was amazed by the long list of jinxes, curses, spells, potions, and magical items she found there. Rodolphus stood close behind her to read over her shoulder, his expression of concern had been replaced by a look of fanatical curiosity that mirrored hers.

The two of them stared in wonder as Bellatrix turned the page, their eyes were glowing in the wand light. They were so intrigued by the book that neither of them noticed that another person had entered the Restricted Section until the newcomer roughly placed a hand on Rodolphus's shoulder and grabbed Bellatrix's arm.

Bellatrix gasped and dropped the book, which hung just above the floor thanks to its chain and began screaming shrilly. A burst of light from an unseen wand silenced it. "Well, of course it's you two." The Slytherin prefect pointed his wand at them threateningly. "Don't move," he ordered as he picked up the book, glanced at its title and sent Bellatrix a reproachful look before replacing it on the shelf.

"I really should take points from Slytherin House for this." The prefect addressed them with a patronizingly authoritative tone.

Bellatrix reluctantly pocketed her wand as she and Rodolphus resentfully followed the prefect out of the library and toward the Slytherin dromitories. She quickly decided that picking a verbal fight would not cause any additional harm or put her in any more trouble than she was already in.

"Nobody cares about the house points," she retorted contemptously.

"I do."

"Well, we don't," Rodolphus said, playing along with Bellatrix. "So taking points away hurts you, not us."

"Fine, but I will report you to Professor Slughorn." Said the prefect, obviously defeated and furious about it.

"Why? So _he_ can take points away?" Rodolphus aruged with a sneer.

Bellatrix grinned evilly and spoke mockingly with a high-pitched baby-voice. "We got lost. It's not our fault you weren't watching us closely enough."

The prefect stopped suddenly, seized Bellatrix, pushed her against the wall, and aimed his wand at her chest.

"Oh, yeah," said Rodolphus sarcastically. "Jinxing first years is a great way to lose your prefect status."

Bellatrix laughed and the prefect released her. "I think we can find the dungeon by ourselves, but thank you for your help anyway," she taunted. She and Rodolphus slapped a high-five and held hands all their way to the Slytherin common room. A few minutes later they found themselves in front of a portrait blocking the entrance.

It depicted a thin man with dark clothing and features who was holding a skull and had a snake curled around his shoulders. "Password?" The portrait hissed at them.

"There's a password?" Bellatrix moaned. "Please tell me Rabastan told you what it was."

Rodolphus shook his head. Sharing a dismayed expression, they both sank to the floor in front of the portrait. They had no choice but to wait until the prefect returned and hope that he would give them the password and that was not a reassuring thought.

"Do you think legilimency works on portraits?" Rodolphus asked after a minute of unhappy silence.

Bellatrix twitched once again at the idea of magical mind-reading. "Probably not," she sighed.

"We could go look for that prefect," he suggested.

"I guess so," Bellatrix agreed unenthusiastically. But she had another idea: "Or we could go back to the library. I mean we have to spend the night somewhere, we might as well..." She trailed off as her real desire became clear. "Oh, aren't you just dying to read the rest of that book?"

"Yes," Rodolphus said in agreement with her idea and as an answer to her question. He stood and took Bellatrix's hand to help her up.

She was more than capable of taking care of herself, but she definitely was not going to complain about Rodolphus agreeing with everything she said or doing everything he could to make life easier for her.

They excitedly began walking toward the library for the second time that night but did not get very far before they ran into someone in the corridor. But, this time, it was not another student.

Bellatrix braced herself for a lecture of whatever punishement she would be given for roaming the school hallways after hours, but Rodolphus gave her an encouraging smile and called out to the teacher.

"Professor Slughorn!" He said. "We got lost from our group and we found the enterance to our dormitory but we don't know the password, could you help us, please?"

It was a convincing story. The professor had no reason to not believe it and Bellatrix really hoped he would.

"Yes, young McNair was just telling me that two Slytherin first years had gotten _lost_." Slughorn said after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence. The emphasis he placed on the word "lost" proved that he did not believe their entire stroy but had no intentions of punishing them for whatever the prefect might have convinced him they had done.

"And I am quite pleased to see that you are alright," the professor continued. "But you should be getting to bed now. I'll see you both in my class tomorrow. Your password is Belladonna. Now, good night." He strolled away from them without another word.

"Was that a warning?" Bellatrix wondered. Rodolphus shurgged in response. They unhappily abandoned their quest to return to the Restricted Section and, instead, headed back downstairs to the dungeon.

Once again face to face with the portrait, Bellatrix said, "Belladonna" impatiently and it swung open. She and Rodolphus entered the gloomy common room with relieved smiles.

"Well, thanks for the adventure." Rodolphus grinned at her. "Good night, Bellatrix."

"You can call me Trixie," she replied. "I'll see you in the morning. 'Night."

(A/N: is this too sappy? Too anything? Please let me know. I hope you're enjoying it so far.)


	4. Chapter 4

Bellatrix was awakened early the next morning by the sound of excited chatter. The four other girls who shared her room had apparently become good friends during her absence last night. She did not separate any particular comments from their conversation, but the talking ceased as soon as she stood up, so she discerned that they had been talking about her.

She stared at them and cocked her head to the side as if daring them to say what they were thinking. None of her roommates said anything and, one by one, they all looked away from her.

Satisfied with this, Bellatrix dressed quickly and tugged her black hair into a pony-tail with a green silk ribbon, then grabbed her school bag, and left the room. The high-pitched gossip returned the second she closed the door. She rolled her eyes at that but did not let it bother her.

Rodolphus met her at the Slytherin breakfast table in the Great Hall. "Hi, Trixie."

Bellatrix smiled politely in response. She poured herself a glass of pumpkin juice and opened her copy of _Magical Drafts and Potions, _only slightly interested in the subject, but eager to start learning something. But she was almost instantly disappointed by the book's contents.

She showed it to Rodolphus, gesturing at the introduction. "Look at this," she whined. "It's talking to us like we're children...and the potions themselves-" she furiously turned a few pages. "Basic remedies and household brews... my house elves know how to make these kind of things! It's so elementary, do they not want us to learn anything?"

"They're probably going slow so the Mudblood students can keep up," Rodolphus suggested unhappily.

"How kind of them," Bellatrix said with biting sarcasm. "But if they're going to be that way, they should at least organize separate lessons or something."

"What are we talking about?" Rabastan asked, joining them and looking quite cheerful, probably due to the upcoming quiddich match.

"Mudbloods," Bellatrix hissed. The happy expression on Rabastan's face was replaced by one of disgust. "Can I see your potions book?" she asked, hoping that at least by forth year, the curriculum would improve a little.

He handed her his copy of _Potions: Grade 4_ which Bellatrix flipped through optimistically. "Sleeping drafts... poisonous concoctions... ooh, and forgetfulness potions. Well, at least those are useful." Slightly happier now, she handed the book back with a half-hearted "Thanks."

She snatched a pastry off one of the plates on the table. "I'm going to class a little early, I'll see you there," she told Rodolphus.

Bellatrix was not certain why she had lied, but, eating her breakfast as she walked, she headed, not for the potions classroom, but for the library. Once there, she retraced her steps from the night before, trying to appear as innocent as possible.

She stood in front of the Restricted Section for a several minutes, staring despairingly at the lock and feeling, just as she had last night, that the Dark Arts book was calling her. Noticing a few sets of eyes watching her, however, she unhappily walked away and strolled down the Potions aisle, feigning interest.

She read some of the titles and skimmed a few pages from a sixth year textbook: _Advanced Potion Making. _A couple of minutes later, she put the book back on the shelf, left the library and made her way to potions class.

Rodolphus had already taken a seat in the classroom by the time she arrived. He raised an eyebrow but did not question her, just motioned for her to join him at the table. She did so, muttering, "Well, who else was I going to sit with? It's not like I'm so popular I have to choose."

He shrugged at that and they took out their books, recalling Bellatrix's earlier comment about their uselessness, and waiting impatiently for the lesson to begin.

Professor Slughorn greeted the class with a warm smile and only the most basic expectations. "Good morning everyone," he said. "Welcome to beginning potions. Well, we have a double period today so we have time for a little review..."

Bellatrix was just deciding that this was yet another lecture that she could tune out, when he said, "...And just for fun, I will give you some questions from my NEWT class to see what you know. I'll award house points for correct answers."

There was a minute of excitement as the students reacted to that news. The Huffelpuffs looked terrified but the Ravenclaw's seemed excited. The Gryffindors eagerly braced themselves for the challenge while Bellatrix and the other Slytherins instinctively kept their expressions casual, even though they were obviously interested.

"Alright, then," Slughorn continued, having captured their attention. "First question: who can tell me the purpose of a Polyjuice Potion?"

A few hands were raised at the Ravenclaw table but it didn't occur to Bellatrix to raise hers. She recognized the name from the Dark Arts book and called out the answer as soon as she remembered it.

"It allows the drinker to temporarily change what they look like, to disguise themselves as another person," she said, slightly paraphrasing what she'd read and happily noting Slughorn's pleasantly surprised expression.

"You need a bit of who you're changing into though, some hair or blood or something," Bellatrix concluded. "Also it takes about a month to brew."

"Marvelous," the professor praised her. "What is your name and house, please?"

"Bellatrix _Black_," she answered, placing a noticeable emphasis on her last name, knowing he'd recognize it. "And I'm in Slytherin House."

"Very well, Miss Black. Ten points to Slytherin. Now, can anyone tell me why the Polyjuice Potion is such a rare one?"

"It's considered a Dark potion," Bellatrix answered automatically. "Brewing it is illegal in most of magical Britain."

"Another ten points!" Slughorn looked at her approvingly. "If you keep this up, Miss Black, you just might make up the fifty points I took from Slytherin House last night."

"I'll try, sir," she promised, knowing exactly why the points had been taken and determined to recover them. And she succeeded, effortlessly answering questions about Polyjuice Potion, The Draught of the Living Dead, and a love potion that she had read about in the library earlier that morning, and earning her house a grand total of eighty-five points.

The other Slytherins were apparently happy for their house but not for Bellatrix, they sent her bitter glares and pained looks of jealousy. And the students from other houses gazed at her resentfully. It was clear that she had not made any friends here.

"It's not fair. She didn't even raise her hand, not even once," she heard a Ravenclaw boy whisper to a blonde girl at his table.

Bellatrix made sure that Professor Slughorn was looking away and then sent a quick jinx in the boy's direction, causing his chair to topple over and him to fall off it, knocking over his cauldron in the process. She had to force herself not to laugh at him.

When the Ravenclaw stood up, he sent her a dirty look. She didn't hesitate to return it and then stick her tongue out at him before returning to her "perfect angel" charade just as the professor turned around again.

Professor Slughorn instructed them to spend the remainder of the class period working in groups of four to prepare a potion that was supposed to reduce fevers. He was writing something on the chalk board but Bellatrix ignored this and began setting up her cauldron and taking out ingredients.

A minute or so later, Bellatrix had the potion in its early boiling stages and was stirring it counterclockwise with a thoughtful look in her eyes. Rodolphus reached over to add the Rosemary she had measured to it and she smacked his hand away.

"We're supposed to add the Rosemary now," he protested. "If you read what it says on the board, it says you should add a spoonful of it and then stir clockwise."

She had not expected Rodolphus to question her. Not after last night and everything they had been through together. And not after all of the things that she had said and done in the short time they had known each other that he had unconditionally agreed with. And especially not after the display she had just given to illustrate her newly acquired knowledge of all kinds of potions. But Bellatrix somehow managed to keep stirring the potion properly in spite of this shock.

"I know what I'm doing," she growled at him.

The pair of Slytherin boys who made up the rest of their group were two of Rodolphus's roommates who he had introduced as Shaun Avery and Evan Rosier. Neither of them seemed to mind Bellatrix doing all the work for their group, but they both seemed taken aback by her last comment and even a little afraid of her.

She wanted to laugh at their reactions, but, now that she had established herself as the group leader, she wanted to remain that way. With her new status as motivation, she managed to remain calm and concentrate exclusively on her potion.

"Well, is there anything I can do to help you?" Rodolphus asked. His voice showed genuine concern and only a hint of impatience, so, she agreed.

"Sure, can you get some eye of newt from the supply cabinet?" She asked, sweetly. "I can't find mine."

"Of course," he said, only too happy to oblige.

Once he was gone, she removed her own supply of eye of newt from her potions kit and showed it to Shaun and Evan, who snickered at her spontaneous practical joke, and hid it, instead, in a pocket of her school bag.

Rodolphus returned with the eye of newt which she measured while she let the potion simmer for a minute. This was a literal minute, though and the tricky part was counting out sixty seconds while measuring the eye of newt, but she did not trust any of the boys to do either of these crucial actions. Somehow, she managed both tasks and resumed stirring, clockwise this time, with her right hand as she added the eye of newt carefully with her left.

All that remained now was to keep stirring, switching direction every three minutes, and to let the potion cool. As she did so, Professor Slughorn walked by to see how well they were doing with the assignment.

"Well done, all of you," he addressed Bellatrix's group after glancing at their potion with a nod and a smile. "Five points each, that's twenty points for Slytherin."

Bellatrix continued to watch the professor as he made his way to the other groups. Concentrating on the teacher and wondering what he would say to the other students, she unintentionally lost her count of seconds spent stirring the potion. She muttered a swear word and panicked for a few seconds, but, then, her hand instinctively withdrew from the cauldron and began stirring in a different direction. She guessed this meant she did not actually need to count and, therefore, could allow herself the slight distraction of observing Slughorn's comments to the other students.

"Well, it's not bad for your first try," the potions teacher addressed a group of disappointed-looking Huffelpuffs. "If you had stirred clockwise instead of counterclockwise just after adding the Rosemary, your potion would have a much more appealing aroma."

Indeed, while the potion Bellatrix was stirring smelled like honey and fresh flowers, the one the Huffelpuff group had brewed was almost filling the entire room with a scent like old fruit and smoke. Bellatrix smirked at that but her lips instantly returned from that shape back into a serious frown when she recalled the other half of Slughorn's statement.

_Rosemary_? She thought in confusion. The portion of Rosemary she had measured still sat, unused, inside her potions kit. Her potion had turned out almost perfectly without it. _But why did I measure it if...?_

Her thoughts scattered as her right hand switched stirring directions and her left hand picked up the spoonful of Rosemary from her potions kit and added it to the potion delicately.

Bellatrix hadn't ordered either of her hands to do either of these things, but she was not worried at all by their independent actions. Perhaps she had achieved a new level of mental magic, one that allowed her to brew potions without even thinking about it. She smiled triumphantly, maybe she really was the greatest student Hogwarts had ever accepted.

Professor Slughorn continued walking around the room and making his observations. He now stood at a table with a group of Ravenclaws including the boy Bellatrix had jinxed earlier. Their cauldron had steam coming from it even though it should at least have been cooling by this point. (Bellatrix knew this because she stuck a finger in her own cauldron and felt that it had cooled to the room temperature.) And, although the scent coming from it was much nicer than the one issuing from the Huffelpuff group's, it still smelled nothing like Bellatrix's, which meant that they had done something wrong.

"Let me see," Slughorn squinted, he glanced back and forth from the chalk board to their cauldron a few times before continuing. "Ah, yes, step five, see. You must have added too much or too little eye of newt. If you had followed my instructions exactly as I wrote them, just like Miss Black and her team did, this would be cooling now and would have a more distinct scent."

Bellatrix, once again, smirked at the other teams' failures. Professor Slughorn explained the Gryffindor team's mistakes (waiting too long to let the potion begin to cool and forgetting the eye of newt altogether) and then returned to the Slytherin table.

Ignoring the rest of her group, which was fine with Bellatrix, he spoke exclusively to her. "Miss Black, I can see that you have both a passion and a talent for potions. It is a pleasure to have you in this class, I only hope I can help to increase your abilities. I have never seen a student follow my instructions so precisely, there are almost always mistakes on the first attempt at potion making. But you... yours is perfect..."

Bellatrix tuned out the rest of this praise because she had made yet another upsetting realization.

_Instructions_? She hadn't needed any guide lines at all. She had simply followed a series of impulses and a few involuntary movements and ended up with the perfect potion. Rodolphus had said something about the chalk board, and, as she could now see, there were indeed instructions written there.

But Bellatrix had completed the assignment, without a single flaw, all on her own. It was slightly unnerving, but she felt wonderful about it, not terrified as she should have been.

(A/N: I don't know much about other Slytherins Bellatrix's age. Lucius Malfoy, Antonin Dolohov, and the Carrows will be in the sequel though. As for Bellatrix's involuntary movements and rapid learning... ha, you'll see.)


	5. Chapter 5

(A/N: This is the last chapter I'm posting today. I have finished this story but don't want a huge gap between it and it's sequel. Please be patient. And thanks as always for your support. Love Lia.)

Her next class was Transfiguration. The sunlit upstairs classroom was unnaturally bright in contrast with the darkness and generally gloomy atmospheres of the Slytherin dormitories and the potions classroom, both of which were located in the Hogwarts dungeons.

Bellatrix took a seat deliberately close to the back of the room and motioned for Rodolphus to join her. He obeyed, but did not speak to her and still wore the offended expression that he'd had on since the end of potions class. She rolled her eyes apathetically at this and stared, instead, at her Transfigurations text book.

Professor McGonagall began to lecture the class about the uses and dangers of magical transfiguration. Bellatrix half-listened for less than a minute before resolving that everything the teacher said was pointless.

A few students had taken out quills and parchment to take notes, Bellatrix did the same. But instead of taking notes about the lesson, she scribbled a single word on her sheet of parchment: _Bored?, _and passed it to Rodolphus.

She leaned toward him to read the response as he wrote it: _Yes, but I am surprised that _you_ aren't paying better attention. Were you not planning to show off in this class too? _He scrawled his answer with quick, angry handwriting and shoved the note back at her.

_I have no idea what you're talking about._ Bellatrix's thought and written reply to that comment were exactly the same. She scratched these words onto the parchment and handed it to Rodolphus.

Instead of answering, he sent her a cold look that showed both doubt and annoyance. Bellatrix frowned at that and snatched the note back. She prepared a convincing statement to add to their note and had her quill poised to do so when the parchment was suddenly confiscated from her.

"These don't look like notes from my lecture," said Professor McGonnagal, disapprovingly. "Miss Black, Mr. Lestrange...I really expected better from both of you. Ten points from Slytherin for your disrespect and immaturity."

Bellatrix scowled as the handful of the students who had also been in her previous class sent her looks of confusion and bitterness. She waited impatiently for the her new least-favorite teacher to return to the front of the room and then took out another sheet of parchment.

_At least she knew to have higher expectations for the purebloods._ She wrote on it, smirking as she did so.

_That's true_, Rodolphus wrote back, apparently he had already forgiven her. _So how many points do we have now? _He scribbled a few quick math problems near the bottom of the page. _We lost sixty and gained 105. So we're at forty-five points, _he concluded_, Mostly because of you. _

Bellatrix giggled but silenced herself and hid the note under her textbook before McGonnagal could notice or say anything about it. The remainder of the lesson dragged by agonizingly slowly. The students were supposed to be attempting to transform a leaf into a feather.

Rodolphus made Bellatrix laugh by quickly hiding the leaf and laying his quill where it had sat a moment ago. "Ta da!" He said dramatically.

Bellatrix quietly clapped her hands and smirked. "I might have believed you," she admitted. "But you pronounced the spell wrong and the quill already had ink on it."

"Well, it was worth a try," he shrugged. "Your turn."

"Alright," she accepted the challenge. But, although Bellatrix managed to correctly pronounce the incantation every time, it was a much more difficult spell than she had anticipated.

After a few failed attempts, Bellatrix's mouth had curved into a frustrated pout. On her seventh try, she did manage to make the leaf turn from green to a more grayish color.

"There, I'm getting better at it," she smiled, resolving to try one more time. But, just as she recited the incantation, her wand hand made an involuntary jerking movement. To her amazement, the leaf transformed instantaneously into a feather.

Rodolphus looked skeptical but when he saw that Bellatrix was just a shocked as he was, his expression changed to one of disbelief. Shaun Avery leaned across the aisle between their tables to examine Bellatrix's success.

"How the bloody hell did you do that?" He gasped.

"Simple," a red haired Gryffindor girl who was sitting at the table in front of them turned around to face the Slytherins. "She just hid the leaf somewhere and replaced it with a quill."

"That's a great idea," Rodolphus joked sarcastically. "I wish I'd thought of it."

Bellatrix just rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid," she told the girl. "Just because you can't transfigure anything doesn't mean I can't. And where would I put the leaf anyway?"

"I would assume that you put it in the same place you hid the note that you and Mr. Lestrange were passing a few minutes ago..." said Professor McGonnagal who had been walking around and making observations the same way Slughorn had. "...even after I distinctly told you not to do so in my classroom."

"But, professor," Bellatrix protested with uncharacteristic politeness. "I really did trans-"

"Regretfully," McGonnagal continued, ignoring her. "I will have to take ten additional points from your house and assign the both of you detention after dinner tonight and hope that _that_ might teach you some respect."

As the teacher strolled away, Bellatrix defiantly pulled her note out again and scribbled a few words onto it: _Would she believe me if I could do it again?_ Then, she folded it under the table and dropped it onto Rodolphus's lap.

_Do you think you can?_ Was his reply, which he promptly crossed out and replaced with: _Does it matter? _

Bellatrix unhappily scrawled a quick _No_ in response to both questions. She noticed that the Gryffindor girl was still watching them. Her eyes were wide and she now looked tempted to report them to the teacher.

"What are you looking at?" Bellatrix snarled at her.

The Gryffindor girl squeaked, "Nothing," in response as a boy from the same house who was sitting next to her grabbed her arm gently and whined, "It isn't worth it, Molly." She sent Bellatrix a hateful look before turning around obediently and going back to her attempted transfigurations and note taking like a good little girl.

Their next two classes were ridiculously boring. Bellatrix and Rodolphus continued passing their note from Transfiguration, and spent most of their class time debating weather History of Magic or Charms was the more pointless subject.

Dinner, a few hours later, was a steak and kidney pie that Bellatrix hardly tasted. She was exhausted from her classes as well as her negative thoughts toward them, and she was also dreading detention and her midnight Astronomy class after that.

Even Rodolphus's attempt at dinner conversation was unhelpful. "So, do you like any of your roommates?"

"No," she sighed in response. "They're all immature gossiping types and two of them are half-bloods."

"How do you know their blood status?"

"I would recognize them if they were pure," Bellatrix answered, recalling her mother's lecture and finally appreciating it. "And I think it would be a really sad day if the house Salazar Slytherin formed was accepting Mud-"

"You haven't changed the subject of conversation since breakfast?" Rabastan interrupted, nudging her playfully. "Look, we all hate the Mudbloods. But I thought you'd have something more interesting to say."

"Like what?"

Neither of the Lestrange brothers answered immediately. They both sent her their own interpretations of the "_are-you-crazy?_" expression she'd grown accustomed to receiving. But the look of confusion on Bellatrix's face did not waver.

"Well, for one thing..." Rabastan began explaining, after noticing that. "The Slytherin point system has been fluctuating all day. Walden McNair said it had something to do with you two."

"He's right," Rodolphus admitted. He summarized the story of their sneaking out last night (leaving out the scene in the Restricted Section, of course) as well as the important events of their classes that day. "...and then McGonnagal took twenty points for passing notes in her class and gave us detention with her tonight..."

He paused in his story telling to take a sip of pumpkin juice and Bellatrix took that opportunity to finish the tale for him so they could move on to a more interesting subject: "And then we lost ten points for not paying attention during History of Magic. And the Charms teacher gave Rodolphus ten points for knowing what the _Wingadium Leveosa_ charm was for and I got fifteen points for performing it correctly after a three tries. And now here we are. How many points do we have, again?"

"Fifty," Rodolphus's answer conveyed his mixed feelings on this matter. Bellatrix frowned, trying to keep her face neutral.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Rabastan asked sarcastically. "Why don't you sneak out again tonight? That'll get rid of our remaining fifty points."

"I didn't see you earning any points!" Rodolphus argued at the same time Bellatrix snapped, "Don't tell me what to do!"

Rabastan ignored his brother and pointed a finger at Bellatrix. "So, it was your idea," He teasingly accused and she scowled in response.

Rodolphus changed the subject, obviously trying to keep the peace. "We got points in Slughorn's class," he told Bellatrix. "We could just keep sucking up to him."

"That's true," Rabastan agreed, turning to face Bellatrix again. "I heard you were going to be one of the youngest students ever invited to join the Slug Club."

Bellatrix looked blankly at both of them. "Nobody cares about the points," she said after a minute. "What's the Slug Club?"

"You're joking!" Rabastan frowned patronizingly.

Bellatrix shook her head. "No. But it's not like I had an older sibling to explain everything to me," she cast a disdainful look at Rodolphus, then turned back to his brother. "And I bet you didn't know all this when you were my age either."

"Sorry," Rodolphus amended. "It's just, you were being such a know-it-all in class, I thought you already knew."

"Ugh!" Bellatrix spat. "First of all: there's a difference between knowing everything and being a know-it-all. And sec-"

"There is?" Rabastan interrupted to sarcastically challenge her statement.

"_Anyway_," Rodolphus cut in impatiently. "The Slug Club is a group of students Professor Slughorn hand-picks from his classes. He mentors and usually favors them."

"Hmm," Bellatrix mused thoughtfully. She decided that the potions master might very well be someone worth sucking up to. "Can I borrow your potions book again?" She asked Rabastan.

He sent her a funny look but dutifully handed over the textbook. "Just give it back before lunch tomorrow," he said. "I still haven't finished my homework yet."

"If I do your potions homework all this year, can I keep it?" Bellatrix spoke without thinking, she had not thought of this and yet it had been verbalized. It was a good idea though, she could learn a lot from a forth year potions class, enough to get her into the Slug Club, certainly.

"Are you serious?"

Bellatrix nodded and smiled as Rabastan accepted her offer. She absentmindedly turned through a few pages in her new book, ignoring the dessert plates as they appeared and, a few minutes later, disappeared. The majority of the students had already left the Great Hall by the time Bellatrix had finished skimming the first four chapters.

"Are you ready for detention?" Rodolphus asked, startling Bellatrix who dropped her book but nodded, however unenthusiastically. "We should probably get going."

"I'm just going to stop by the library on my way there first," she decided.

"You want me to go with you?"

"No, it's alright."

"I'll see you there, then."

Bellatrix nodded, then drained her glass of pumpkin juice, flirtatiously waved good-bye to Rodolphus, and headed upstairs. Very few people were in the library by the time she reached it. There was a group of four Ravenclaws doing their homework quietly and another of three forth-year Huffelpuff girls who were socializing instead of studying.

Bellatrix picked three students out of these seven who she was fairly certain were muggle-borns. "_Mudbloods_," she hissed under her breath, out of habit, as she passed them and walked her familiar route to the Restricted Section.

The book sat on its shelf exactly where it had been this time last night, it's call toward her was stronger than earlier and she longingly promised it and herself, "_Tonight_."


	6. Chapter 6

(A/N: I decided to take a different approach toward Bellatrix's Dark Arts training, you'll see in a second- I think it's kind of obvious who wrote the letter she's reading here... Please let me know if it's too cryptic or predictable or anything though. Also, Leiglimency will be used later, I changed the rules slightly for dramatic purposes... As always, thanks for reading. Enjoy.)

Bellatrix opened her eyes what felt like less than one minute later. She squinted, looked around, and panicked. "Where am I?" She asked herself. It was dark and cold and Bellatrix was obviously outside somewhere. She flicked her wand, whispered, "_lumos_," and perplexingly took in her surroundings in the soft wandlight.

She was sitting under a large willow tree, somewhere on the Hogwarts campus. She could see the castle in the distance, about half a mile away and there was a book on her lap, propped open to a page about half way though it. In the margin there was a folded sheet of parchment.

Because it was the only clue she had, Bellatrix eagerly unfolded the note and read it aloud to herself. "_Dear Bellatrix_," She began, amazed that it was addressed to her personally. "_This book was not originally part of the Hogwarts library. I placed it there because I intended for you to find it as a test, and because you passed that test, as you must have done in order to be reading this, I want you to have it._"

For the first time, it occurred to Bellatrix to examine the book itself. She turned a few pages, then shut it and glanced at the cover and gasped. It was the Dark Arts book that she had intended take from the library; and apparently she had succeeded in doing so, even if she had no memory of that escapade. She sighed in amazement and continued reading:

"_I placed a charm on this book so that you could learn some of its most essential points just by touching it. That is how i taught you the powerful silencing charm you used when you first discovered it, the cutting charm you used to free it, and the jinx that you used on the boy in your potions class. That last one was always one of my favorites, one that i used on my own tormentors and enemies while I was in school_."

Bellatrix's lips formed a pouting look of concentration and her eyebrows met for a moment as she considered who this note could possibly be from. The handwriting was not one she recognized but whoever had written it would have to be someone who knew her name and must have been watching her since she'd arrived at Hogwarts. Any sensible person would have been terrified at that thought but Bellatrix was thrilled.

She paused long enough to smile and fully appreciate the concept that someone had _chosen_ her. "_I know that you will read this book thoroughly and then will be eager to learn even more." She read dramatically. "That is why I have placed two more volumes like this one somewhere in your school. I have ensured that these will be a bit more difficult for you to acquire than this one was, but I know you will be able to_."

_A challenge?_ Bellatrix mused happily. _And he thinks I can do it... _

The message concluded with another promise, "_I also intend to personally teach you in the Dark Arts. I will approach you with more information about this when I believe that you are ready for it. In the meantime, treasure what I have left for you and learn everything you can._"

It was signed, simply, "_A friend_." Bellatrix shivered, but it had nothing to do with the cold and everything to do with her excitement. She took a minute to enjoy this thrill, then read the note over again several times. Finally, she looked at the page that the note had bookmarked and grinned wickedly at the subject there: Dark Potions.

"Perfect," Bellatrix muttered approvingly to herself. Her "friend" must have known about her fascination with the Dark Arts, her curiosity about potions, and her desire to be accepted into the Slug Club. He had found a way to give her all of these things and more. She felt she owned him so much already and was anxious to meet him. For the time being, though, there was little she could do except exactly what he had told her to do: _learn_.

Bellatrix eagerly examined the rest of the book for any additional notes or clues from her mysterious "friend." She found nothing but did not let that discourage her, she flipped to the first page and began reading.

"Trixie? Bellatrix, are you alright?... _Trixie_!" Someone was gently, but urgently shaking her. He was gripping her left arm firmly in one hand and supporting her head with the other.

Bellatrix mumbled, "Rodolphus" as she recognized his voice and opened her eyes when he sighed in relief. She was curled up on the floor of the Slytherin common room, lying on her right side and facing the empty fireplace. She blinked a few times, then sat up, weakly, and looked at him for an explanation. "What happened?" She asked, "How did I get here?"

"You don't know?"

"I don't remember," she clarified.

Rodolphus stared at her for a moment before answering. "I just found you here a minute ago. Last time I saw you before that was right before we were supposed to go to detention. You said you'd meet me there but you never showed up, and you weren't in Astronomy class either..." He still had not let go of her arm and now clutched it even more tightly. "I was really worried about you."

"Um," Bellatrix murmured, indistinctly as she made Rodolphus let go of her arm and reached for her school bag. She considered showing him the Dark Arts book and explaining the very few details that she did remember. But it didn't take her long to realize that she did not want to share it. Whoever had written that note had chosen her specifically and Bellatrix wanted that limited bond to remain her secret.

The last thing she remembered was reading under the willow tree, and that must have been hours ago. But she had no memory of getting there in the first place or of coming back to the common room after that. At that point, her memory lapses were no longer exciting, there were now two huge pieces of her day that she could not recall any portion of. Mental instability ran in her family and she was beginning to worry for her own sanity.

"Rodolphus," she dropped her bag and turned back to face him. "You've read about Legilimency..." She shuddered after that last word, it was a frightening and repulsive concept, and yet, she felt she had no other choice.

"Yes," he answered her unfinished question and seized her arm again. "But, Trixie, what do you-"

"Is it possible..." Bellatrix interrupted then trailed off again. She peeled his hand from its protective grip around her forearm to take it in her own hand and squeezed it tightly for reassurance. "If I don't remember something... it's still something I did, right? So I should still have a memory of it, even if I can't see it now... If I can't see it," she managed to choke out the rest of her request. "Would _you_ be able to?"

Rodolphus's terrified expression mirrored hers. "I could try," he said after nearly a minute of staring and heart-racing. "If you want me to, but-"

"Just do it," Bellatrix ordered. "I trust you and I really need to know what's going on." She began sorting though the facts she had in order to calm herself and prepare her mind as much as she could. Rodolphus led her to a couch in the corner of the room and had her lie down on it as he paged though his Legilimency book for some quick research.

Having someone magically read her mind still terrified Bellatrix but she wanted answers more than she wanted privacy. She put on a strong, serious face and forced herself to focus, once again, on the facts:

She knew she had acquired the Dark Arts book, left the Hogwarts castle, and come back at some point. She had no idea why she had done any of these things or what had happened during the hours she couldn't account for. She could only hope that Rodolphus could find something in her mind that would help fill in the gaps.

Not exactly reassured by those thoughts, Bellatrix lay still on the couch, using its armrest as a pillow and trying unsuccessfully to keep her breathing and heart rate at relatively normal paces. Thankfully, they were alone in the common room. Bellatrix had glanced at a clock on the wall and was pleased to see that it was a little before five in the morning. No one usually woke up before seven and she was glad for whatever time they had.

"Alright," Rodolphus said a few minutes later. His tone was calm, but he was clearly just as nervous as she was. "Do you think you're ready?"

Bellatrix forced herself to nod and he helped her sit up on the couch then took a seat next to her and placed the book between them. He gestured to a page he'd dog-eared and read a few sentences aloud for her benefit. "Eye contact is not always necessary, but it does amplify the connection. Physical contact such as hand-holding has a similar effect and will usually make the process less painful for both parties if-"

"Less _painful_?" Bellatrix inquired.

Rodolphus looked at her and bit his lip for a moment before answering. "I think it means-"

"I know what it means," she cut him off. She had not anticipated physical pain in addition to all the emotional turmoil, but she was certain she could handle it. She'd had the Cruciatus Curse put on her seven times already, so, undoubtably she could deal with a little headache. "Let's just do it, okay?"

Instead of answering, Rodolphus grabbed hold of both of her hands in his and stared at them for a few seconds before lifting his head to gaze into her eyes. "I've never done this before," he warned and Bellatrix shrugged impassively at that. "Try not to blink if you can help it."

Bellatrix mouthed "okay" but couldn't bring herself to verbalize the word. Rodolphus looked at her warily for a few additional seconds and then began. "_Legilimens_," he muttered and, as that incantation triggered them, images and memories began swirling around her mind. Mostly, they were from her childhood but these were quickly discarded and replaced with more recent additions.

Almost too late, Bellatrix remembered that she had not wanted him to know about the Dark Arts book or the note she'd found with it. She wondered if she could hide just that particular memory and decided to try it. Meanwhile, Rodolphus was skimming delicately through her thoughts about her first day in Hogwarts as if they were pages from a book of some sort.

Bellatrix focused in her subconsciousness, pleased to discover that Rodolphus was seeing only her memories and that her current thoughts were still private. She made herself focus on what she remembered about the willow tree, the note, and the book and condensed them into what she pictured as a large white box inside her mind. Then, she imagined forming a shield around that box, an impenetrable crystal bubble like the Occlumency chapter had suggested, and she hoped that protection would be enough.

The memories circling her mind appeared to her as Rodolphus saw them. They had arrived at the scene from dinner the day before, more than ten hours ago in spite of the fact that Bellatrix had only about half-an-hour's worth of memories to account for all that time. Their conversation replayed and they watched her going to the library and whispering "tonight" to herself.

And then... _nothing_. Rodolphus's look of concentration intensified and Bellatrix squeezed his hands impatiently as she ground her teeth together and waited hopelessly for an answer.

Her eyes were beginning to burn from being forced to remain open for so long, but Bellatrix only bit her lip and continued to stare into Rodolphus's eyes hopefully. The expression on his face proved that he was trying hard but had not found anything useful yet.

Then, suddenly, pain filled her head. It felt like her skull was splitting while someone was tearing her hair out several strands at a time. It was almost unbearable, but Bellatrix had enough discipline to not cry out. Instead, she bit down even harder on her lip as she shuddered and waited agonizingly for Rodolphus to break their contact.

He did so, carefully, even though it was clear that he was experiencing as much pain as she was. Bellatrix squeezed her eyes shut and waited for her breathing pattern to return to normal before opening them again. During this time, the pain slowly lessened and finally disappeared completely.

Bellatrix opened her eyes with a weak sigh after a couple of minutes and looked at Rodolphus, hoping he could explain. "_Well_...?" She prompted.

He misunderstood her staring, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know it would feel that bad."

"No," Bellatrix shook her head. "We knew _that_ was going to happen. I meant, did you find anything?"

"Yes, but nothing that makes sense. It looks like you were sitting here, doing homework and then you fell asleep on this couch. But that doesn't work because I've been sitting here since class got out just in case you came back here. The only time I left this room was when I got the Legilimency book back from Rabastan, so I could read something while I waited. When I came back here after that, I found you lying in front of the fireplace."

Bellatrix glared at him. "But I could have come in here while you were in detention or Astronomy class..."

"In your memory, it looked like you'd been here for hours. Also, most of your other memories I saw from your point of view. But that scene I saw as if I was watching you, not as if I _was_ you."

"Oh. Well, what does that mean?"

Rodolphus turned a few pages in the book. "Those highly skilled in Legilimency often have the ability to fabricate and implant memories, thoughts, and feelings into the minds of others..." he read. "They can make their victims believe whatever they want them to believe and even control their thoughts and actions..."

He stared at the passage and then at Bellatrix for nearly a minute, before voicing his idea. "It sounds similar to the effects of the Imperious Curse, except..."

"Except that if I was under the Imperious Curse I'd have memories of it," Bellatrix sighed. "But maybe it has nothing to do with Legilimency." She tried to convince herself that was true. "Maybe I just got amnesia or something. Or someone put some forgetfulness potion in something I ate or used a memory charm on me or..."

"_Trixie_..." Rodolphus shook his head.

"Look, I'm sure there's an explanation and I'll find it." She said with intentional shortness. Rodolphus didn't look convinced but he didn't argue her statement, so Bellatrix continued to press him for information. "Did you see anything else?"

"Yes," he answered after a moment's hesitation. "There was some kind of shield blocking part of your mind. I tried to get past it but I couldn't. I think that's where the pain came from"

So her first attempt at Occlumency had been successful. Bellatrix mentally smiled at that achievement but, externally, kept the disappointed expression on her face. "Thanks for trying anyway... Now, we should probably go to bed, we're going to be tired in class tomorrow." She met Rodolphus's eyes again, fake-smiled for his benefit, then leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. "Good night."


	7. Chapter 7

Bellatrix changed her mind overnight. She no longer cared that she had gaps in her memory. There were so many other things to occupy her mind. She had classes and a seemingly endless supply of homework to deal with everyday and she spent her nights reading the Dark Arts book and attempting to teach herself Occlumency.

She got used to this schedule and time passed by so quickly after that. Before long snow covered the Hogwarts campus and Bellatrix went home for the holidays.

The Black family Christmas party was not as painful an event as Bellatrix had anticipated, mostly because she was still considered a child and too young to attend beyond making an appearance. Other than that she just had to ignore the noise and the familiar power-hungry feeling the entire house gave off.

The adults had put her in charge of babysitting her sisters and her baby cousins, Sirius and Regulus. The children had been ordered to stay in the guest room and quietly amuse themselves. Bellatrix stayed there just long enough for her appreciation of their innocent and adorable natures to vanish. Then she transfered her task to Andromeda who gladly accepted it, probably as a chance to play house realistically, and she tiptoed out of the room.

Bellatrix sneaked across the hall to the library. She had never paid much attention to anything in this room aside from books of childhood stories. But she was not a child anymore and she had more important concerns now. Unfortunately, though, a twenty minute search brought no results.

_But of course... _Bellatrix realized. Cygnus Black obviously wouldn't keep his Dark Arts books in the family library. She slowly and quietly made her way downstairs, carefully avoiding party guests, and then into the study down the hall.Once there, she snatched a book at random off one of the shelves, not even bothering to look at its title, and stealthily went upstairs to her room with it tucked safely under her arm.

Bellatrix spent the next two hours lying on her bed, hunched over the two Dark Arts books, the one she'd acquired from the Hogwarts Restricted Section three months ago and the one she had just stolen from her father's study. She was comparing the two of them, looking for any new information or some clue as to where her "friend" who had given her the first book would have placed another like it as he had promised to do.

She found herself intrigued by a chapter in her newest book that was called "_Sectumsempra_" and pulled out her wand to attempt that spell. The book hadn't given her an incantation, but she guessed, correctly, of course, that it was the same as the name it had been given. She waved her wand at nothing in particular as she said it aloud, because the book had not informed her of what kind of results she could expect from her first attempt.

What resulted was a large gash running diagonally down the wall opposite her. No matter, she could just have the house elves replace the wallpaper tomorrow. In the meantime, she was just happy with her successful execution of the Dark cutting charm.

But Bellatrix was still curious. She thought about it for a moment, then laid her left arm flat on her bed and waved her wand over it in a slashing motion as she repeated the incantation again. A large, deep and angry-looking gash appeared there, half-way between her wrist and elbow. She screamed, more from shock than pain and clamped the hand on her injured arm over her mouth when she realized someone might have heard that cry. No one disturbed her for more than a minute, so she set her arm back down, flat on the bed again.

Bellatrix noticed that she had also slashed holes into the blanket on either side of where her arm was resting. She smirked at that, then turned her attention back to her injury, she watched the blood spill from it and onto the white blanket below. Morbidly intrigued by that for a moment and then biting her lip as she turned back to the book for more information, Bellatrix did not even notice her father entering the room until he said her name disapprovingly.

At that, Bellatrix conjured a quick but strong shield charm around herself and looked up at him with a hateful expression.

"Your shield charm is not necessary," he assured her. "I have no intentions of harming you now or ever again. You've already proven yourself."

"What do you want then?" Bellatrix asked, trying not to sound too rebellious. She obediently but warily waved her shield charm away.

"You're supposed to be watching the children," he answered her with his typical emotionlessly commanding tone.

"And you're supposed to be socializing at the dinner party," Bellatrix countered, her face showed neither the fear nor the respect that he seemed to have been expecting from her, only anger.

"Don't you dare talk to me like-" He stopped suddenly, seeing the hole in the wallpaper and the gash on Bellatrix's forearm. "What did you do?" The fury on his face did not waver, but, for just a moment, she saw a look of loving concern in his eyes that she had never seen before. Then, he spotted the book and noted the page she'd been studying.

He waved his wand over her injury and wordlessly healed it. "That was your first attempt, correct?"

Bellatrix frowned then nodded.

"If you had used any more power than you did, it wouldn't have healed instantly. Please keep that in mind... You're my firstborn, Bellatrix. Curiosity is understandable but I don't want to see you getting hurt."

"Isn't that a bit of a double standard, Father?" Bellatrix challenged. "You've been practicing the Dark Arts since before I was born."

"I have been _studying_ the Dark Arts not using them. My passion is learning about them in theory but I would never use Dark Magic on another person and certainly not on myself. What were you thinking?"

Bellatrix ignored his question and instead, furthered her argument against his hypocrisy. "You'd never use Dark Magic against another person? You put the Cruciatus Curse on me, several times. There's no Darker Magic than Unforgivable Curses!"

"I have already explained my purpose with that for you. But in case you've forgotten, it was to teach you loyalty, strength, tolerance, and most importantly, respect. Perhaps you need another lesson."

"No!" Bellatrix raised her wand and straightened her body into a defensive position.

Her father stared at her for a few seconds before lowering his wand and nodding approvingly. "You can keep the book, Bellatrix. But you should know that the Dark Arts are illegal, not to mention dangerous."

"I know that!" She shouted, then lowered her voice, remembering the family's precious reputation. "I'm not a child anymore, you can stop treating me like one."

"Well, since you're an adult now, would you like to go to the dinner party?" The offer was sarcastic and Bellatrix scowled disdainfully before answering.

"No."

"Then go watch the children."

"Can't one of the house elves do it?"

"No."

"Why?"

"Because I told you to watch them."

"Fine!" Bellatrix dropped both of her Dark Arts books into her school trunk and locked it before resentfully returning to the guest room. Andromeda greeted her there with a relieved "Oh, good, you're back," comment and by dropping one-year-old Regulus into her arms.

Bellatrix stared in disgust at the sleeping infant she was holding. She instantly decided she hated children. They were weak, helpless, and just plain pathetic. She hated to think there was ever a time she'd been as small and vulnerable as her little cousin was now. If she wanted to she could hurt him, even kill him, if she felt like it.

As if he had heard her thoughts, Regulus chose that moment to awaken and begin crying and screaming. Bellatrix stared hopelessly at her sisters. Andromeda stared back at her in disbelief but Narcissa quickly volunteered, "I'll take him." She gently lifted the baby from Bellatrix's arms and took him soothingly into her own. He instantly quieted down.

Andromeda hadn't stopped staring at her. Bellatrix decided she didn't like the look on her sister's face. "What?" She demanded.

"You're just so different, Trixie," Andromeda's voice was shaky. "You haven't written to us like you promised to. Cissy and I haven't heard from you since you left. You always took care of us, but now you won't even hold Regulus for two minutes. And all through winter break, you've been so distant and...and..." She trailed off in search of an appropriate word.

"Mean," Narcissa supplied.

"I've just grown up a lot this year, girls," Bellatrix explained for her sisters. "And I realized I might want to do something with my life other than get married and take care of screaming children."

"Trixie..." Andromeda began to protest. But Bellatrix ignored her because her two-year-old cousin, Sirius had grabbed hold of her skirt and started tugging impatiently on it.

"What does he want?" She turned to Narcissa for help, because Andromeda was being a pain at the moment.

"Well, we sort of told him you could do magic."

"I can," Bellatrix couldn't understand the guilty tone of Narcissa's answer. She motioned frustratedly for more information.

"We said you'd make some fireworks or something. It got him to be quiet for a little bit, so, could you...please do something?"

Bellatrix frowned, but agreed. She lazily sent multi-colored sparks from her wand, brightened and dimmed the lights in the room, and even cast a patronus. Her patronus still had not taken on an animal form no matter what happy memory she tried with it, but the wispy, smoke effect that resulted instead still sufficed for entertainment purposes.

"Happy now?" She inquired of her cousins and siblings ten or so minutes later when she'd grown bored with her own magic show in spite of the fact that all four children were staring at her in amazement.

"Yes," Andromeda enthusiastically answered on behalf of the entire group.

"Good," Bellatrix commented sarcastically. "I only live to serve."

The remainder of the holidays passed by without anything interesting happening. Bellatrix repeated her performance for the children at their family's New Year's Eve party. This time they were at the original family home: 12 Grimmauld Place, cosily settled in the tapestry room. Sirius and Regulus were obviously amused but both fell asleep before she finished.

Narcissa and Andromeda told Bellatrix that they had forgiven her for whatever they thought she had done to offend them. The three of them quietly spent the rest of the night munching on a pile of pumpkin pasties that Bellatrix had stolen from one of the party tables, using a Disillusionment charm on herself in order to sneak in and out of the room, and then just giggling and talking like they always did.

Bellatrix was glad that she could leave them on that happy note. "Be good," She told her sisters, when it was time to say good-bye. "I love you and I'll see you soon." Finally, they let go of her and she boarded the Hogwarts Express once again without looking back.

(A/N: This is my favorite scene so far. I hope you liked it too. I'm taking the opportunity now to apologize for my overly-Americanized poseur British writing, normally it's okay but definitely not ENGLISH english, I'll randomly throw in words like "bloody hell" or "shepherd's pie" and it does bother me, so, like I said, I'm genuinely sorry. Sometimes I just can't resist, I fake the cute accent too, you probably want to kill me now... but anyway, back to the story, the next chapter is up now, hopefully that brings some redemption...XOXO -Lia.)


	8. Chapter 8

She found the same compartment near the back that she had ridden in earlier that school year and began reading her Dark Arts book while waiting for her friends to join her. Rodolphus came first, he greeted her with a hug and she carefully put the book away before he saw it. Evan Rosier and Shaun Avery joined them without invitation, but Bellatrix didn't mind their company, and Rabastan entered their compartment just as the train began pulling away from the station, closing the door behind him.

He stared the conversation with, "So, how was your Christmas?" A question that wasn't directed at anyone in particular and got several one-word answers such as "fine" or "good" in response.

"Good," Rabastan commented with a nod. "Well, if you all don't mind being quiet for a little bit, I still have some homework to finish."

"Here's your potions essay," Bellatrix handed him a foot and a half of parchment she'd completed a few days ago. "That should help a little. Oh, I hope Slughorn doesn't mind, I added a few more footnotes than he asked for. Is that okay with you?"

It wasn't Rabastan who Bellatrix wanted to please though. At the end of the school year she planned to tell the potions master who had really been doing Rabastan Lestrange's homework. She would accept any cheating penalty in exchange for that recognition, which was why she was being such an over-achiever with the assignments in both Rabastan's class and her own.

"Perfect," he enthusiastically agreed, apparently, he was oblivious to her plan. "So, how are you at Divination?"

Bellatrix made a sour face and shook her head. "It's a stupid, pointless class. And it's your fault for taking it if you can't do the work. Oh, but what about D-A-D-A?"

"Defense Against the Dark Arts?" Evan translated as he and the other boys in the compartment stared at Bellatrix with looks of bewilderment and suspicion.

"Yes," she confirmed. "You see, I just realized this over the break, but, if you ignore the _'Defense Against' _part, you can really learn a lot from the class."

"Never thought of it like that," Rodolphus nodded in agreement with her recent epiphany. He hadn't said a word about the Dark Arts book since their first night at Hogwarts, but he did seem fascinated every time Bellatrix mentioned the subject.

"Did you _want_ to do my homework for that subject?" Rabastan asked her hopefully. "We're supposed to write a foot-long essay about dementors and patronus charms."

"Hmmm," Bellatrix thought about it. Lots of other first years would gladly do homework or other favors for forth-year students in exchange for money or popularity or for buying them something in Hogsmead. But she already had everything she needed and wanted. It would be nice to learn more about patronus charms and why hers still hadn't conformed to an animal shape, but it would also be fun to watch Rabastan struggle with the assignment. She finally settled for, "Well, what's in it for me?" A line that she delivered with her favorite evil smirk.

"You're doing my potions assignments for free!" He protested. "And you just said you can learn stuff from D-A-D-A. So ignore the first part and figure out how to make friends with dementors or something!"

"I do your potions homework because you let me keep the book," Bellatrix pointed out. "And I'm learning from it too. So that I can show off in my class and get into the Slug Club, remember?"

"You still haven't been invited?" Shaun demanded, with obvious disbelief.

"No, I haven't." She scowled.

"What are you doing wrong then? Because, in class, you-"

"That's what I'd like to know." She interrupted ferociously, then calmed down a few seconds later and decided to help Rabastan after all. "Fine, 'Bastan, I will do your essay, but you owe me."

"Thanks, that's great." Rabastan happily accepted her vague condition and dropped a textbook onto her lap. "Okay, who wants Divination?" That offer was given with a nervous, joking smile but unfortunately, it seemed genuine.

"Do your own Divination," Bellatrix ordered him. "I already told you it's a stupid class. And none of us have taken it yet, so we wouldn't know how to do your assignment anyway. Give your History of Magic work to Rosier and make Avery do your Herbology."

Both Evan and Shaun stared hostilely at her, angry that she'd assigned them work and because she had used their last names as if they weren't friends. But she held up a finger to stop them from protesting.

"Just a minute," She told them before turning diplomatically back to Rabastan. "I'll do your Dark Arts work," she winked. "And give Rodolphus... um, give him Charms and Transfiguration, they're his best subjects." She made sure she had everyone's full attention before continuing. "In return, you're going to let me practice a few simple jinxes on you and give the boys..." She shrugged. "Um, whatever they want... Everyone agreed?"

Of course they were. Bellatrix smiled pridefully at her delegating skills as everyone nodded, mumbled their consent, and began taking out school supplies. She had the essay done in less than half and hour and skimmed the patronus chapter while she waited for everyone else to finish.

She was paging though her happy memories, trying to choose the strongest one, intending to focus on it and improve her patronus's shape. Her thoughts scattered as Rodolphus dropped a folded sheet of parchment on top of the book on her lap. She looked at him and he shrugged, unhelpfully, and offered no explanation, so she just opened the note:

_Transfiguration and Charms are _not_ my best subjects. I just do your work in those classes because I know you hate them_.

Bellatrix scratched out a not-so-friendly response: _It has nothing to do with what you like or don't like. Or what you're good at, even. If you do something for someone else it's because you get something in return. That's all._

_Does doing Rabastan's homework now count as a favor for him or for you, since it was your idea? I'd like to know which of you owes me something in return. _Rodolphus wrote back. He sent her a resentful glare before handing the parchment back to her.

Bellatrix rolled her eyes before she answered: _Just give me the work if you don't want to do it. It makes perfect sense to me though. Give and take, that's just the way life works. _

Their written conversation continued over several minutes and a few more sheets of parchment, but Rodolphus finally gave up arguing with her.

_Whatever you say_, Was his final, resentful answer. Bellatrix smirked at that petty victory for a few seconds before turning back to the DADA book. She mentally crossed out the first two letters and began skimming a chapter on simple but powerful Dark jinxes.

The train settled into the Hogsmead station an hour or so later. Rabastan collected his homework from the first-years and led their way to the carriages. The five of them climbed into one that was intended to carry four people at the most. It was uncomfortably crowded for all of them and Bellatrix stood up and suggested, "Why don't one of you just get out?"

Rabastan responded to that by wrapping his arms around her so she couldn't fight or access her wand and tugging her down into a seated position on his lap. She shrieked murderously until the carriage started moving and then calmed down but did keep a livid scowl on her face. Shaun and Evan laughed at her and Rodolphus sent her a useless look of sympathy.

The boys debated wether the carriages had been bewitched to pull themselves or if whatever was pulling them was simply invisible to the students. Bellatrix took no part in this conversation, she used that time to choose what jinx she was going to hit Rabastan with the second he let go of her and she got hold of her wand.

Shaun and Evan jumped out of the carriage as soon as it came to a stop, sneering and calling "Good night" and "See you later" over their shoulders. Rabastan kept hold of Bellatrix, his arms still binding hers as he climbed out of the carriage and carried her toward the castle. She knew that he was just playing with her, but she hated being singled out, more than likely, just because she was a girl, and feeling so small and powerless.

"Are you going to play nice if I let go?" He whispered playfully in her ear. Despite everything, Bellatrix was pleased that he genuinely seemed scared of her. Well, her magical abilities, at least.

"No." She hissed in response, answering honestly.

"We're at school now, you could lose House points or get detention if you hurt me."

"I don't care!"

"Let her go." Rodolphus ordered suddenly. He had been following them but hadn't said a word since the end of their carriage ride. He spoke now with a boldness that neither of them would have ever expected from him.

Rabastan was the first to recover from that shock. "She's going to hex me the second I let go," he argued with his brother's demand.

"You'd deserve it." Bellatrix spat.

"Give me her wand," Rodolphus suggested. "I won't give it back to her till you're out of sight."

"Uh!" Bellatrix shrieked. "Whose side are you on?"

He gave no answer, just stood there stoically as Rabastan fished Bellatrix's wand out of her school robe's pocket and tossed it to him, then released her and took off running for the castle entrance.

Bellatrix held out her hand, palm facing up, and motioned for Rodolphus to give her her wand back. He did so, hesitantly and with a warning, "Don't _hurt_ him."

The second the wand was in her hand, she waved it in Rabastan's general direction and cried, "_Sectumsempra_!"

_Where did that come from?_ She'd meant to just send a harmless leg-locker curse at him as a warning, but at the last second a revengeful part of her had changed the incantation to a harmful one. Thankfully, she missed. The curse scraped almost a full layer of bark off one small section of a tree in front of her instead.

Rodolphus stared at her speechlessly and then looked at the tree with a bewildered expression.

"_Detention_, Miss Black." A teacher's voice called from behind her.

(A/N: sorry this was a little shorter than usual. _So_, Bellatrix is being weird again, let's just see what happens next, shall we... It's fun to play with the future Death Eaters as kids and I do see her as a leader though. In honor of Bellatrix's "life is give and take" ideal: if you leave any sort of review, I'll find one of your stories and leave you a nice, constructive one too.)


	9. Chapter 9

_It was worth it_, she thought with shaky defiance. She turned around to face the authority figure and gasped, it was Professor Slughorn, the one teacher whose opinion mattered to her, the only one she cared about pleasing. In that moment, she wanted to hurt herself in punishment for her impulsive stupidity, but instead, she just pocketed her wand and nodded.

"Mr. Lestrange," Slughorn turned to Rodolphus. "If everything is alright here, you're welcome to go ahead inside."

"I'm fine." Rodlophus nodded. "Trixie, are you okay?"

"Yes," Bellatrix answered quickly.

"I'll wait for you in the common room, then." He nodded again and then left them alone.

"Miss Black," Slughorn spoke again. "I would like a word with you."

"Yes, Sir," Bellatrix consented, nervously.

"That spell you just used is Dark Magic. I'd like to assume that you did not already know that, but I do have to ask: did you?"

_Lie! _A cold, eerie voice commanded inside her head. It wasn't one she recognized, but she chose to obey it:

"No, Sir, I didn't know. It was just something I heard some one say and I thought I'd try it out."

"Hmm, Well, if you hear anything more about the Dark Arts on this campus, you will tell me immediately, yes?"

"Yes, of course, sir." Bellatrix always had been a fantastic liar, and she was pleased with any chance to exercise that ability.

"In the meantime, Dark or not, hexing another student is against school rules. So, you'll be doing detention with me after dinner tomorrow night. I'll see you in class. Good night"

She nodded obediently. "Oh, Professor," she called before he could walk away. "I wanted to ask you something. It's about your, um, Slug Club."

"Yes, Miss Black, what is it?"

"I was wondering if you'd ever consider letting me be a member."

"That's flattering, Miss Black, but I don't usually accept first years."

"I understand that, sir. But you said yourself that I was one of your best students."

The potions master seemed unfazed, so Bellatrix resolved to bring her family into the argument. She knew that Slughorn was one of the very few teachers who actually appreciated the importance of blood status.

"Sir, my family can trace their ancestry back to the middle ages," She pointed out. "The Blacks are some of the most powerful and influential witches and wizards of all time. Not to mention, we're all extremely ambitious pure-bloods."

Slughorn all-but ignored her little monologue, but did seem to give her last few words some consideration before shaking his head in response to her request. "I'm sorry but my answer is still no, Miss Black. Mostly because of your hostile attitude toward students of other houses or of lesser blood than yourself. And because of that jinx I caught you attempting tonight."

"Oh, come on!" Bellatrix whined, completely forgetting her manners and the "obedient student" role she'd been playing. "It's not like I ever actually hurt anyone. And tonight, technically, I jinxed the tree and not Rabastan, not that he wouldn't deserve it if-" Too late, she caught herself.

"Miss Black," Slughorn let out a sigh. "Like so many other curious Slythrins your age, it's clear that you too have a tendency to confuse the terms ambitious and malicious. I suggest you familiarize yourself with both of those words and I will see you in my class tomorrow. That is my final answer. Now, good night."

Bellatrix angrily watched her favorite teacher walk away. "_Miss Black_," she mocked under her breath, stretching her last name into a two syllable word the way Slughorn did. Slowly, as she walked inside and toward the Slytherin dormitories, she calmed down. By the time she reached the portrait, she had resolved that she would just need to try even harder in her potions class.

"Toadspawn," She sweetly recited the new password for the portrait, which swung open instantly without changing the expression on its face. The portrait didn't have much of a personality In fact, it had yet to do anything other than frown skeptically at the Slytherin students. Bellatrix pondered this and decided that she was going to make it smile someday. That thought was entertaining enough to make a grin appear on her own face, one that she was still wearing when Rodolphus confronted her.

"How'd it go?" He demanded eagerly the second she entered the common room.

"Fine, I just got detention tomorrow night."

"Make sure you actually show up for this one," he jeered with a knowing smile. He was referencing their detention with McGonnagall at the beginning of the year. When Bellatrix had not shown up for it, the teacher had cleverly just subtracted fifty points from Slytherin house. A sum that did not worry Bellatrix at all because she easily recovered them and twenty additional ones in Slughorn's class the day after that.

Despite the teasing, there was also a grave seriousness in Rodolphus's eyes. "What is it?" Bellatrix inquired impatiently.

"That jinx you sent at Rabastan...That was Dark Magic, wasn't it?" He paused long enough for her to nod. "He was just _playing_ with you, Trixie! ...And you saw what you did to that tree. If you'd hit a person with that, you could have cut down to the bone!"

"I know that," she lied. "I missed on purpose. See, I didn't hurt anybody but, this way, everyone will still know not to mess with me." She then changed the subject so he wouldn't have a chance to argue her point, "So, what are you going to make your brother give you in exchange for doing his homework on the train?"

"I thought I'd ask him to teach me legilimency. He's better at it than I am and I want to figure out what went wrong when you and I tried it."

"Oh, that reminds me. Could you try it on me again?"

"What? Why?"

"I've been teaching myself occlumency and I want to make sure it's working."

"I don't know," he said warily. "Remember last time..."

"That was only your first try though," Bellatrix argued. "And we were both scared out of our minds, that's probably why there was all that pain... Please, just try."

"Fine," He agreed after nearly a minute of staring at her pouted lips and pleading eyes. They sat down, side by side on their favorite couch, the one in the corner farthest from the fireplace, and grabbed each other's hands instinctively.

"Promise me," Rodolphus warily directed her. "That you'll tell me if you feel any pain, and I'll stop if you want me to."

"Oh, please," Bellatrix just rolled her eyes, but his staring persisted so she finally consented. "Fine, I promise. Can we do it now?"

"Tell me when you're ready."

"Okay," she shut her eyes for a few seconds and tried to make her mind blank by focusing on nothing at all. Then she opened her eyes and stared into his. "Ready."

"_Legilimens_!" Rodolphus concentrated but Bellatrix didn't see any flashes of memory or feel any pain at all. Finally he pulled back and she waited anxiously for him to explain what happened. "That block that was in your mind last time..." he said after a minute. "All of your mind is like that now, I couldn't see anything... Did you use occulmency last time?"

"Yes," She could have lied but there wasn't really a need to.

"Why? What were you hiding?" He was being curious, not demanding, but it was still slightly annoying.

"If I used occlumency to hide it from you, does it really make sense that I would just tell you what it was now?" She challenged. He frowned so she quickly made amends. "Look, it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I have secrets I don't want _anyone_ to know."

"I understand," he said sympathetically. "Well, I'm going to bed now," he added after an awkward, silent minute. "You?"

"No, I'm going to stay up for awhile."

"Do you want me to-"

"No," She interrupted. "I mean, you can stay up if you want to. But I'd like some time alone if you don't mind."

"Not at all."

The two of them hugged and wished each other "good night" before parting. Bellatrix waited till Rodolphus was out of her sight before she performed a quick Disillusionment charm on herself and sneaked out of the room. She went outside where a few inches of snow still coated the ground. She hadn't thought to bring a coat but suddenly didn't seem to need one, she just keep walking, unaffected by the chill.

She did not know where she was going until she reached her destination: the willow tree she'd found herself underneath on the night she'd acquired the first Dark Arts book.

She took a seat there now, and opened that same book to a page at random. By some extremely bizarre coincidence, the unit was about Unforgivable Curses. There was not a lot of new information there though, and just like the book on the same subject that she'd gotten from Nockturn Alley just before starting school, it did not give her any incantations.

That wasn't a problem though, because she already knew one out of three of them, and it was one that she couldn't wait to try out. _Crucio_! She said inside her mind, then quietly repeated it out loud. She stared at the book, searching half-heartedly for some new information, while she waited for a bug or a small animal to come along, one that she could use as a practice first-victim.

It was a small grey bird that eventually found its way over to her. Bellatrix waited like a crouching tiger while it settled onto a branch a few feet above her head, then she shot a stunning spell at it. She slowly traced a line in the air, starting at where the bird was currently frozen and stopping at the ground just in front of her. That pattern was copied by the bird's immobilized body, moving only a split second slower than her wand and landing limply at her feet.

She stared at it for a minute, hesitating for a few seconds, before she shouted the incantation again, "_Crucio_!" The bird cried out with horrible squawks of pain but it didn't move. _Couldn't_ move, she remembered, because she had immobilized it.

With a sigh, Bellatrix released it from the torture curse and then also from its immobilization. She waited until it began to pick itself up, allowed it to believe that it was safe once again and could fly away. Then, she shot another Cruciatus Curse at it just as it lifted its wings to take off. She watched it fall to the ground and struggle there uselessly, twitching and convulsing violently and crying out to no avail.

Was that what _she_ looked like under the curse? Weak? Pathetic? Helpless?

"Never again," Bellatrix said to herself, strongly. _She_ was the one with all the power now and this was yet another curse that she was prepared to use against anyone who tried to hurt or control her in the future.

The bird had stopped screaming during her temporary distraction. "_You have to mean_ _it,_" She reminded herself, bringing her attention back to the curse. She gave her victim a tiny break as she skimmed through what the Dark Arts book said about the Cruciatus Curse.

The bird had stopped squawking, and now ceased writhing too. It's tiny bird-brain took almost a full minute to comprehend its liberation. Bellatrix watched it with cold-blooded amusement as it struggled to balance itself on two shaky bird-legs and attempt to fly off again. She let it get a few inches off the ground before she flicked her wand in its direction again.

As she did that, she uttered a single word. But that one word had more emotion and desire behind it than anything else she'd said in her entire life:

"_Crucio_!"

(A/N: So, this is the last chapter of first year. Maybe it's as predictable as it is premature, but I really wanted her to try out the Cruciatus Curse, because it's the one that pretty much defines her. If you think Bellatrix, you think "Cruciatus." Every story of this series begins and ends with that word too. The next one "Bellatrix the Strange- 2" imaginative title, huh? will be about her forth year, her early Dark Arts achievements, and some of her relationships. Please look forward to it. I hope you like the story so far. XOXO. -Lia.)


End file.
